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PCM burning up my alternator?

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Old Mar 10, 2009 | 11:56 AM
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Default PCM burning up my alternator?

I have put 7 alternators in my 99 t/a. Every time I get above 5000rpm it fries the alternator. The guy at the shop says the pcm is sending a signal for the alternator to charge *****-to-the-wall all the time but theres nothing he can do about it because it has what he calls a "hot rod program" in the pcm (my speed density tune maybe?). Is that possible? if so is there somewhere I can get a single post alternator for that year model?
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Old Mar 10, 2009 | 01:31 PM
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Christ man it took seven for you to decide hey we maybe better check into this?
None the less. You need to do a lot of testing, the PCM only sends one signal to the alt through the exciter wire. No one changes this with a hot rod tune.
You need to get a good alternator on and running and see whats going on. The exciter should read around 10 volts with it running.

Have you ever seen all your dash lights come on while driving?

When the alt put out more than 17 volts it shuts ABS, ASR, airbags, all that **** turns off and the dash lights up like when you start it.

I had that problem. It was caused by a missing seal around the exciter wire and letting water get inside the voltage reg.

I still have the same alternator, I just didn't run it when it freaked out and only put a seal on it and been done with that problem.
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Old Mar 10, 2009 | 09:34 PM
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Tuna,
No way. Describe all the accesories you have hooked up to your electrical system- Head unit, amps, electric dog polishers....
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Old Mar 12, 2009 | 01:45 PM
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Originally Posted by 9000th01ss
Christ man it took seven for you to decide hey we maybe better check into this?
None the less. You need to do a lot of testing, the PCM only sends one signal to the alt through the exciter wire. No one changes this with a hot rod tune.
You need to get a good alternator on and running and see whats going on. The exciter should read around 10 volts with it running.

Have you ever seen all your dash lights come on while driving?

When the alt put out more than 17 volts it shuts ABS, ASR, airbags, all that **** turns off and the dash lights up like when you start it.

I had that problem. It was caused by a missing seal around the exciter wire and letting water get inside the voltage reg.

I still have the same alternator, I just didn't run it when it freaked out and only put a seal on it and been done with that problem.
Yeah i'm not electrically inclined and I didn't have the money to pay someone else to troubleshoot it (i had the autozone warranty on the alternator so they were all free).
The dash lights all come on when I start up the car but i thought that was part of the normal startup routine. It's never done that while i was driving. I don't think it's ever gone close to putting out 17 volts, the problem was the amps.

I was asking another guy about it and he said it's controlled from the PCM by a pulse modulated ground.
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Old Mar 12, 2009 | 01:48 PM
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Originally Posted by Doc
Tuna,
No way. Describe all the accesories you have hooked up to your electrical system- Head unit, amps, electric dog polishers....
None. Every thing is stock as far as electrical goes. actuall it should pull a little less electricity than stock because it has no fog lights, missing 2 speakers.

-edit- I lied, I just got a pioneer head unit, but it blew 6 of the alternators with the stock head unit.
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Old Mar 12, 2009 | 02:34 PM
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Originally Posted by tuna10985
The dash lights all come on when I start up the car but i thought that was part of the normal startup routine. .
It is, I'm just saying if it was a voltage reg problem and the volts went high the lights come on like that when you're driving. And your headlight bulbs blow out, your power windows actually go up and down at a decent speed, etc.
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Old Mar 12, 2009 | 05:50 PM
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Originally Posted by tuna10985
(i had the autozone warranty on the alternator so they were all free
I've seen AutoZone put the wrong voltage regulator into an alternator more than once...I'd bet those alternators are the problem...the original that wasn't from AutoZone that died was probably just old and worn out or something.

Only thing you could do to the PCM that'd be a problem is messing up the installed options matrix...and most tuning software doesn't give you access to that. Installing a Holden program in a Chevrolet would be another way to do that...
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Old Mar 12, 2009 | 10:39 PM
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Originally Posted by Mike454SS
I've seen AutoZone put the wrong voltage regulator into an alternator more than once...I'd bet those alternators are the problem...the original that wasn't from AutoZone that died was probably just old and worn out or something.

Only thing you could do to the PCM that'd be a problem is messing up the installed options matrix...and most tuning software doesn't give you access to that. Installing a Holden program in a Chevrolet would be another way to do that...
The latest alternator was installed by a local mechanic and he said he got it from a local guy who rebuilds alternators. I have a feeling that the computer is messed up because I've had other problems with my O2s and it doesn't idle right, sometimes it dies. I had a pretty knowledgeable guy tune it and it still doesn't act right. I can't afford the PCM or the new tune that goes along with it so I guess now I'm looking for a single wire alternator. Anybody know where to get a good one that will fit?
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Old Mar 13, 2009 | 02:00 PM
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I think you're going to wind up spending more chasing that single wire alternator mod as a problem than you will fixing the correct problem. How modified is your engine? Maybe you could try a stock PCM from a junkyard (for like $40).
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Old Mar 13, 2009 | 04:38 PM
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Alternators usually get fried when they have to drive an excessive load (like a short).
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Old Mar 13, 2009 | 06:04 PM
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agreed...and I'm pretty sure the PCM can't cause this
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Old Mar 13, 2009 | 10:24 PM
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http://www.gearchatter.com/viewtopic8959.php
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Old Mar 30, 2009 | 12:19 AM
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Default Regulator burning up alt

What i have seen is the resistor in the computer light circuit shorting allowing 12volt unresisted voltage to the light circuit will kill the alt. The thing you can do is hard wire the alt how you do this is take a ign on 12v in line install a 200olm 3wat resistor to the light circuit on you alt. this will eliminate the computer completely that is the was we do it on our stand alone off road engine work great. or you can buy a new ecm a lot more money

hope this works Chris
example

ijn voltage-----------200olm3w resistor-----------alt regulator L terminal
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